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Trump expected to pick State spokeswoman for United Nations ambassador

Posted on Friday, December 07, 2018 by Willis Stokes

Trump expected to pick State spokeswoman for UN ambassador

President Donald Trump will nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as USA ambassador to the United Nations, a source familiar with his decision said on Thursday, tapping someone with no prior policy or political experience to deal with some of the world's thorniest issues.

According to multiple sources, the president will bring Heather Nauert from her current position as State Department spokeswoman to replace Haley at the United Nations.

Nauert was named as the State Department spokeswoman in April 2017.

Nauert was formerly a co-host on morning cable news show "Fox & Friends" as well as a correspondent for CBS News. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trump's announcement.

Having the direct support of the president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could buttress her image, however, among global diplomats at the United Nations, who have bristled at Trump's "America First" foreign policy.

Her appointment to the United Nations role would have to be approved by the US Senate. She does not have prior political or policy-making experience. Barred from traveling with Tillerson, she embarked on her own overseas trips, visiting Bangladesh and Myanmar previous year to see the plight of Rohingya Muslims, and then Israel after a planned stop in Syria was scrapped. She oversaw public diplomacy in Washington and all of the roughly 275 overseas USA embassies, consulates and other posts.

ABC News reported in November that Nauert had been offered the United Nations job, but it was not clear at the time whether she had accepted.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described Nauert in March as "a team player" and "a strong asset for the administration".